The Los Angeles Lakers were once again hit by the injury bug on Monday as Xavier Henry went down with a torn Achilles and will miss the rest of the season. Henry is the third player to be lost for the year joining Steve Nash and Julius Randle.
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Kobe Bryant knows the feeling of that torn Achilles all too well, and said that seeing Henry go down took him back to that moment according to Lakers reporter Mike Trudell:
Kobe on Henry’s Achilles: “I knew exactly what he was feeling – took me back to that place again. It’s an uphill battle. It’s a long hill.”
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) November 25, 2014
It should be very beneficial for Henry to have Kobe as his teammate in this situation as it is not often that a player has a teammate who has gone through the exact same injury — especially one as devastating as a torn Achilles. It will be a long journey for Henry, but not an impossible one, especially for someone as young as he is.
The sight of Kobe on the ground trying to re-attach his Achilles, and then standing up and eventually making two free throws before walking off the court will go down as one of the biggest examples of Kobe’s strength and will. Henry will need to demonstrate that same resolve to recover from this.
Byron Scott had recently suggested that Henry may have lost some of his explosiveness and might need to change his game. While Henry disagreed then, this latest setback may change things, as Henry may never recover the speed and explosion that he flashed last season.
[divide]BREAKING: Lakers Xavier Henry Suffered Serious Achilles Injury